South-East Europe has experienced a significant number of severe meteorological and hydrological events in recent years. Heavy precipitation has caused floods and landslides. Droughts have increased the incidence of forest...

Geneva, 17 May 2017 – The annual meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Executive Council concludes here today after adopting decisions aimed at enhancing weather, climate and hydrology services around the world. A particularly important issue, the need to strengthen aeronautical meteorological services, was addressed through a one-day special dialogue with representatives from the aviation sector. Aviation is one of the most weather-sensitive of all economic sectors. It is also changing rapidly. With air traffic doubling every 15 years, competition increasing and air safety...

African leaders are coming together this week for action on modernizing weather and climate services, which inextricably link the Continent’s development, climate, and resilience agendas. Weather and climate drive nine out of ten disasters in Africa, threatening Africa’s hard-won development gains. Floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, and landslides continue to cause heavy damage and losses to livelihoods. Over the last two decades, these disasters have cost the continent US$10 billion dollars. Given the increasing climate variability, these disasters are projected to increase in frequency...

The World Meteorological Organization has presented its top award to Gordon McBean of Canada for his outstanding work in meteorology and climatology and his leadership as a scientific researcher. Mr McBean is currently President of the International Council for Science.

WMO has issued its annual report for 2017: Services for Decision-Making. The report, issued during the Executive Council meeting, focuses on the knowledge-base, information for decision-making, supporting sustainable development, and also looks at WMO’s budgets, staffing and structure.

An event during WMO’s Executive Council to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) heard calls to accelerate implementation of the Paris Agreement and to leverage climate change solutions to address other threats and priorities for the sustainable development goals.